Judge charged over NCT failures

IncredibleHulk

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0118/finnt.html

Seth Brundle

If he is deciding punishments for those who break the law then he should abide by it himself. Anyhow, its not as if he can't afford to get it through!

Oilrig

What a Plonker...

jhegarty

If anyone fancied a test case then get your pop-corn

Our man in Havana

So some Garda has now destroyed their career.

unkel

Bond-007 wrote: »

So some Garda has now destroyed their career.

Eh?

Victor

The thing is, I don't think I've ever seen a story of anyone else being charged over this.

eringobragh

Victor wrote: »

The thing is, I don't think I've ever seen a story of anyone else being charged over this.

x2 i'd a car for 6 months with none [tut tut] and not a peep out of the cops. My mate hasn't had an NCT on his 2 cars and tey have given out to him but thats about it.

Our man in Havana

Victor wrote: »

The thing is, I don't think I've ever seen a story of anyone else being charged over this.

My brother was charged with no nct about a year ago. He was fined €250.

mass

My NCT has expired, and I tried three test centres including Deansgrange, Naas. None of them had a test slot available until 2nd of May - so I booked it. Does that mean I'm not supposed to use my car until then?

Guy:Incognito

mass wrote: »

My NCT has expired, and I tried three test centres including Deansgrange, Naas. None of them had a test slot available until 2nd of May - so I booked it. Does that mean I'm not supposed to use my car until then?

Nope. It can be done up to 3 months in advance of the due date for just that reason.

Our man in Havana

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0404/finnt.html

Judge convicted over NCT failures
Friday, 4 April 2008 12:42

A District Court judge from Cork has been convicted and fined €250 for using a car without a National Car Test certificate.

Judge Terence Finn, who lives in Mitchelstown, was before Mitchelstown District Court charged with failing to display a NCT cert, using a vehicle without an NCT cert, and with failing to produce an NCT cert.

The charges were brought after Judge Finn was stopped by Garda Traffic Corps Sgt Adrian Lomasney at Greencloyne, Youghal, Co Cork, on 26 July last year.
Advertisement

Sgt Lomasney said he was taking part in a NCT operation in the southern region.

Judge Finn pleaded guilty to the charge of using a car without an NCT cert.

He was convicted and fined €250 by Judge Michael Patwell. Judge Finn's solicitor Justin Condon said the Judge had no previous convictions.

He said he was very embarrassed and very apologetic and an NCT cert had since been obtained.

Judge Finn was not court for the hearing.

Proper Order!

DeepBlue

mass wrote: »

Does that mean I'm not supposed to use my car until then?

Stekelly wrote: »

Nope.

That's just a little ambiguous.

Do you mean:

"Nope, you're not supposed to use your car until it's passed"

Or

"Nope, it doesn't mean you're not supposed to use your car until it's passed".

I assume, from the context, that you mean the latter but I vaguely recall a number of posts on other threads in this forum which have implied that an out-of-date NCT is rarely acted on by the Gardai.

DeepBlue

mass wrote: »

My NCT has expired, and I tried three test centres including Deansgrange, Naas. None of them had a test slot available until 2nd of May - so I booked it. Does that mean I'm not supposed to use my car until then?

There's a little more detail in the story here ( (c) Irish Times - subscription req'd).

Irish Times article wrote:

District Court judge fined €250 for driving car without NCT certificate

BARRY ROCHE, in Mitchelstown, Co Cork

A DISTRICT Court judge was yesterday fined €250 when he pleaded guilty to using his car without a National Car Test certificate after he was stopped by gardaí carrying out inspections to see that motorists were complying with the regulation.

Judge Terence Finn (56), a native of Mitchelstown, north Cork, who sits in District Court Area No 21 which covers east Cork, west Waterford and south Tipperary, faced three charges arising from driving his BMW without an NCT certificate.

Judge Finn, who was appointed a judge in 1991, was charged with using a vehicle without an NCT certificate, failing to display an NCT certificate and failing to produce an NCT certificate when he was stopped by gardaí at Greencloyne, Youghal, Co Cork, on July 26th, 2007.

State Solicitor for North Cork Frank Nyhan told Mitchelstown District Court that the defendant was pleading guilty to the first charge of using a vehicle without an NCT certificate and the State was not offering any evidence in relation to the two other charges.

Sgt Adrian Lomasney of the Midleton Traffic Corps said that he was operating an NCT checkpoint in the southern region on the day in question and he stopped the 00 Cork reg car and noticed it did not have an NCT certificate required for all cars over four years old.

Judge Finn did not attend yesterday's hearing but his solicitor Justin Condon told the court that his client had since obtained an NCT certificate for the vehicle and that he was very embarrassed and very apologetic over the matter.

Mr Nyhan said that the defendant had had no previous convictions and Judge Michael Pattwell said that he had a standard fine of €250 for the offence which he imposed on Judge Finn and he gave him 14 days to pay with three days in prison in default.

That story seems to imply that he never had an NCT cert despite his car having a '00 reg :eek:.

I suspect that the Gardai would give some leeway if the NCT had only just expired in much the same way that they give you leeway when you're tax disc has just expired.
Having some evidence that you had booked it in for the test would probably help too such as a printout of your booking notice.

But if you leave the NCT cert lapse for months then you will probably be done for it.

The usual "I am not a laywer" disclaimers apply.

mass

I actually let it lapse as there was a recall from the car manufacturer, and the seat belts had to be replaced before I could do the NCT. I guess if I keep the recall letter handy too I should get away with it for now!

unkel

In fairness to the judge, he held his hand up, confirmed he had no valid NCT and said he was sorry. Probably the only judge in the country with a 4+ year old car though

Anyway, a fixed fine of €250 with no penalty points feels ridiculously lenient to me. How about €2,000 and 5 points?

In fairness, the NCT is a standardised and objective test and at only €49 (less than a 5 min visit to your GP), it is very good value for money for what is tested. At the moment of passing the test, the vehicle is considered to be safe and roadworthy

As others said, it is the responsibility of the owner to book the car in before it's due, which can be done 3 months in advance of the due date. My car was NCT'd this January by the previous owner and is not due a new NCT until the first of August of this year (imported car) but you can be sure I'll be booking it in on the first of May of this year!